Nonprofit Leadership Roles

While working at The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis I wanted to do more within the organization. However, leadership roles require higher education, so I decided to go back to school to pursue my Master’s degree focusing on Nonprofit Leadership Management. I was first introduced to Orvin Kimbrough while working at The Scholarship Foundation. Orvin was a former recipient of the Foundation’s Interest-free Loan Program. When I worked at the Foundation, Orvin was a successful recipient, working as the Vice President of Major Gifts and Planned Giving at United Way. Orvin’s story was well-known throughout the organization. I chose Orvin because of how much he has accomplished; he inspires me to succeed. I’m the youngest of seven. I knew at …show more content…
meeting, I admired the endless awards of recognition, thank you notes, and annual reports from organizations funded by United Way. I read stories of how abused teenagers grew up to have a loving family they thought they never deserved and it was all thanks to the United Way of Greater St. Louis. During my 45 minutes waiting, I had several people ask me if I needed anything and apologizing for the mix-up in Orvin’s schedule. I did not mind waiting at all. I actually enjoyed reading and learning about the various organizations funded by United Way. It’s not every day I get to sit down with one of the most influential people in St. Louis, I was more than happy to …show more content…
His story is an incredible one. Orv grew up in Missouri’s foster system. Working with children in the foster system daily, I see how challenging it is to grow up in an unsteady environment. No one can relate to the challenges these children face on a daily basis, but Orv can because he was one of them. Orvin knows what it takes to fight through adversity to become a successful human being. Like Orv, I too attended school in the St. Louis Public School district.
Orv has his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Work from the University of Missouri-Columbia, a Master’s of Business Administration from University of Missouri-St. Louis and a Master’s of Arts in Theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. I’m encouraged to study for my Master’s of Business Administration after meeting Orv and seeing how influential advanced education can be. Orv arrived at 9:48am. An important meeting ran over. When Orv made it to the office he sincerely apologized for being late then made a comment about “the first rule of being a leader is to always be on time.” Little did he know I was elated to even have 10 minutes of his time, let alone almost an hour. He not only leads a great organization, he leads an organization that supports more than 170 other organizations in the greater St. Louis area. I wasn’t expecting all the time I did receive, and for that I am